With most of the action set in a forest, the plot of Thalakonam centres around the kidnapping of a minister’s daughter and her college mate by a group of naxals. The naxal chief demands that his brother be set free from prison in exchange for the girl’s life. The rest of the story is about how the duo tries to extricate themselves from the situation. The fact that it is a work of a debutant is evident throughout.
The locations are eye catching. But what the film lacks is a coherent script and focused narrative. Whether it’s the girl’s family issues, with a few of her relatives wanting her dead, the portrayal of naxals, who seem more like a gang of dacoits, or the attitude of the cops, who are an amateur lot, none of the episodes is handled with seriousness or conviction. In such a scenario, one cannot expect great performance from the actors. Jithesh, who has acted in a couple of films including Aegan, is at the most adequate. His pairing with Telugu actor Riya is a listless one. Kota, who rarely fails to regale audiences with his brand of comic-villainy, isn’t much fun in the film as the girl’s father. Ganja Karuppu’s comedy track intrudes into the narration, hardly invoking laughter. The songs are forced in even as the duo tries to escape from the kidnappers, making it seem more like a romantic-musical than the intense naxal-family-kidnapping drama it is meant to be. It’s a finale that’s familiar, since it has been repeated in quite a few recent releases. Thalakonam is a debutant maker’s work gone awry.